The annual championships hosted by the QEF, will begin with Qatar International Show Jumping meet from tomorrow. The four-star event will see 57 riders and 85 horses from 11 countries in action over three days.
The FEI-sanctioned event will be followed by another top-class tournament – the Al Rayyan championship from November 23 to 25.
The three-day event features a Grand Prix Class of 160cm high fences within the Arab League qualifications of riders and horses for the 2018 World Cup, which will be held in France next April.
There are nine classes in total with three each to be contested tomorrow, on Friday and Saturday.
While revealing the details, QEF Event Director Ali al-Rumaihi said: “We have received good response for both the events, with each carrying 240,000 Euros in prize money. Besides that, it’s a good platform for young Qatari riders to show their potential and learn.”
Besides top Qatari riders like Sheikh Ali bin Khalid al-Thani and Bassem Hassan Mohamed, two-time Global Champions Tour winner Edwina Tops-Alexander of Australia will be the star attraction.
Athina Onassis of Greece, Jordan’s Hani Bisharat Ibrahim, Vladimir Tuganov of Russia and Turkey Derin Demirsoy are other top riders in the field. Riders from UK, Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Pakistan will also make their presence felt.
Bassem, who won the Doha leg of the GCT last weekend, is currently second in the Arab League rankings with 44 points just four behind Jordan’s Ibrahim. Al-Rumaihi hoped that the two home events will help the Qatari riders accumulate crucial points as they look to qualify for the next year’s World Cup.
“Our hope is that the Qatar riders will get highest number of points during the two championships. Bassem and Sheikh Ali, who are always contesting in major tournaments, are in a good position to qualify,” he said.
Omar al-Mannai, Commercial Director of Al Shaqab, said the level of competition will be high despite the absence of neighbouring boycotting countries. He stressed that they have not faced any issues with transportation of horses.
“We did not face any issue so far because most of the participants and their horses are coming from Europe and Asia so we did not have any kind of negative impact. With regards to the regional participants, we have riders from Kuwait and Jordan. Other Gulf countries are welcome to take part but we did not receive any entries from them,” al-Mannai said.
He added that there was no special requirement to qualify for the events. “There are no special criteria’s but we follow the process of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) for entries for these two competitions. Anyone who feels that he or she can take part in the competition at this level have been welcomed,” al-Mannai added.
On the QEF and Al Shaqab joining hands to organise equestrian events, al-Mannai said: “The guidance of HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani, President of the Qatar Olympic Committee, led to the formation of a joint committee to organise all events related to equestrian sport, which is a well-known and important Olympic sport. The tie up between QEF and Al Shaqab is a fruitful one and there will be continuous co-operation in the future too,”
Qatari riders, who participate in the National Series Hathab will also take part in the international championships. The three legs of the QR1mn Hathab series has already taken place, with the remaining rounds to commence next month.
The entry will be free for the spectators, with a fun zone for kids and other activities for families in place at the QEF. Both the events will be shown live on Alkass channels. “We also have collaboration with Bedaya for food and beverage kiosks around the venue. There will be a lot of other community activities. There will also be a raffle draw and the prizes will be announced during the events,” al-Mannai said.
The Qatar International and Al Rayyan championships are annually held in month of December and January respectively, but has been pushed forward a month to give the riders an opportunity to take part in other competitions in the region.
“We advanced the meets this year, to make it easy for the riders to participate in all tours in Gulf. Between the Qatar events and those in Saudi Arabia they have eleven days break in between, and another twelve days between the events in Saudi and the UAE. So we did to help and facilitate the riders, so that they and horses can get ample rest,” al-Rumaihi said.
Schedule
Tomorrow
13:30: Two Phases 120 cm
15:30: Table A, Against the clock 130/135 cm
18:00: Special Two Phases 145 cm
On Friday:
13:30: Table A, Against the clock with Jump 120 cm
15:30: Table A, Against the clock with Jump Off 135 cm
18:00: Qualifying competition for the FEI World Cup Table A, Against the clock 145 cm
On Saturday
Table A, Against the clock 130/135 cm
Table A, One Round + Winning Round 145 cm
Grand Prix – World Cup Competition | Two Rounds 160 cm